May Round-Up

Can you believe it's June, were almost halfway through 2016. Summer is finally making a somewhat regular appearance in this part of the world,



Project wise, I have a few things to show you, the accompanying video for this post can be found at the bottom.

Done and Dusted

Shawl

I wanted to enter the Summa Stripes Shawl into the Expat Yarn KAL over at the Knitting Expat Ravelry group, the KAL was due to end on the 31^st May so I started the shawl a few days early to give myself some extra time. This was completely unnecessary because I finished the shawl within a couple of weeks.

This demonstrates how easy the pattern is to follow, it’s well written with instructions on how to carry the contrasting along each row so that you don’t have long floats or lots of ends to weave in.

It was the perfect pattern to use for the yarn I received in the Expat Yarn Swap, they complement each they complement each other so well. The darker shade is Dream in Color Everlasting DK in Holly, 100% SW Merino 275yds/100g. The lighter one is Greenwood Fiberworks Silky Sheep in River Stone, 50% Silk 50% SW Merino 231yds/100g. If you ever get the chance to use either of these yarn brands I’d definitely recommend them.

Kid Makes

Little Miss Celebrated her 1^st birthday in May and as a little gift, I made her the Ribbed Baby Jacket by Debbie Bliss. It’s made from in one piece starting from the hem at the back and ending at the front. I made a slight change to the pattern, opting for a garter edge/collar instead of a ribbed one and adding a single crochet border to the hem. I was also contemplating adding cuffs to the sleeves but ran out of yarn in the contrasting shade.

The yarn I used was Scheepjes Merino Soft in Hogarth (grey) and Copley (pink). Though this was very soft to work with, it was also very splitty despite the fact that I was using 6mm Addi Clicks, which are blunt.

If I did use this again, I would use a different yarn and work a garter hem to stop it from rolling.

Socks

My chosen socks for May were Solar Flair by Rachel Coopey, I started these quite late and finished with a day to spare. The pattern is easy to follow and memorise. I worked the same number of rows for the cuffs, 40 rows for the leg and 60 for the foot, with the toe being worked as instructed in the pattern.

The pattern uses a heel flap and gusset but I opted for the FLK heel. I love this heel technique; it’s so quick and leaves my socks gap free. If you haven’t used this heel before I recommend that you get the pattern it’s less than £1 and comes with instructions on how to make a cardboard cut out of any foot you are knitting for. I didn’t make the foot and still think the heel alone is worth the price of the instructions.

Moving onto the yarn, I used Norah George in 50 Shades of Blue, this yarn is 75% SW Merino 25% Nylon, 400m/100g. It was lovely to work with, the blues are so vibrant and though this was a lot more variegated than I had anticipated, I still like how it looks. I had about 40g of this left over, which I look forward to adding into my mitred square blankets.

Design Project

My latest design project is, as yet unnamed. It's a crochet wrap vest, with with a contrasting front which gives it a POP.
I'm not sure whether I'm going to have it tested or test it myself, the sizing is customisable so I'll need to work on the instructions to check that it makes sense and that it works. Once that's done it will be ready for purchase, so watch out for it.

On the Needles/All Hooked Up

Sweater

I've finished the back and left front of the Callie cardigan by Sublime yarns. I'm yet to cast on for the right front but will try and get that started soon.

Design Project

In the March Round-Up, I spoke about the club package I received from Third Vault Yarns. I had initially searched for patterns to make with this but then decided to design my own pattern instead. I'm going to make a cowl and have already started, but have to restart it and adjust the size. I may also go up one needle size to loosen up the gauge. The image above is how it initially looked before I made changes to some of the stitches.

The yarn is themed around the TV series Fire Fly, so I will try and name the project in a similar fashion.

Goodies Galore

Goodies are going to be a little sparse for the next few months. In may I received two sets on goodies, though only one of these was physical.

Crochet club box

The only thing that came through my doors were this hook and mini from as part of their Crochet Hook Club. The box included a handmade crochet hook along with a complimentary skein of yarn and a pattern for a crocheted mitred square. I went with the mini skein (20g sock weight) but you can also choose full-size skeins.

If I’m honest, the colour of the hook is not me at all and the mini skein isn’t me either, but I like the idea of the club and was prepared for the fact that I might not like every hook I receive. I wasn’t able to get the most recent club box but will get the next one, adding all the minis to a crochet mitred square blanket.

Do check out her Etsy store, For The Love Of Yarn UK if it’s something that you’d like to take part in or just check out her other items.

My other goodie for May was a pattern I won in Serenova Crafts April FO prize draw. I chose Thingvellir by Linnea Ornstein. This Icelandic style jumper is something that I've wanted to knit up for a long time, and it's made using Lopi which is another bonus.

Waiting in the Wings

There aren't any major plans for my June projects, I'm like to make a start on the Atlas sweaters for the tripolatas and of course my June socks for which I will use Rico Designs Poems. Most likely these will be vanilla socks with an afterthought heel.

As well as these I will make a start on two mitred square blankets, one knitted and one crochet. Be sure to stop by in July to see how I get on.

Word for the Month

The word for June is 1Thessalonians 5:15

Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.

I go into more detail in the video, but this sums it up.
When we are wronged (something we all have and will experience), it's natural for us to want to get some sort of justice. But, instead of retaliating we should take a moment to realise that we should be the better person and not try and seek revenge. Instead, we should think of how we can show love in this and every situation.